The very first video taken inside the Rhondda Tunnel has been released.

The film was shot by Rhondda Tunnel Society chairman Stephen Mackey using a Go Pro camera - as part of a bat survey to gauge the extent of any wildlife that may be residing inside the tunnel.

It was an emotional visit for 60-year-old Stephen as he was 24 the last time he had stepped inside the feat of Victorian engineering, which stretches between Blaencwm in the Rhondda and Blaengwynfi in the Afan Valley.

The team at the Blaencwm inspection portal

Opened in 1890, the 3,443 yards (3,148m) Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Tunnel connected the coalfields of the Rhondda with Swansea Bay.

Major tourist attraction

It was closed in 1968 as part of the Beeching cutbacks that decimated the railway network in the 1960s and led to the closure of thousands of railway stations, and was eventually covered over in 1979.

The Rhondda Tunnel Society, formed last year, is hoping to reopen the tunnel and turn it into a cycle trail and major tourist attraction.

Entering the tunnel via an inspection chamber at Blaencwn, Stephen said he had mixed emotions as he descended into the tunnel below.

“It was very emotional returning after so long. But I was apprehensive having to crawl 40 ft through a pipe in a confined space.”

A very moving experience

However, once inside, he said it was how he remembered it all those years ago.

“I think my first words after stepping down into the tunnel, was ‘hello my old friend.’ It was a very moving experience but I was conscious that I was with a team who had a job to do and that I was also filming using the Go Pro camera.”

Bat survey inside the Rhondda Tunnel

The survey was undertaken by teams from Acer Ecology and Mines Rescue, who have installed three bat detectors - one at either end of the tunnel and one in the middle.

They will record for 40 days then the detectors will be removed and the data processed to see if there any bats in the tunnel.

Stephen added: “If bats are found to inhabit the tunnel, then a bat-friendly habitat roosting place would have to be built in when the tunnel opens, for the bats to use alongside us humans - although the team were confident there aren’t actually any bats down there.”